


Mission: Find Bucky

by orphan_account



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 03:45:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1967727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone is protecting Steve on his missions.  It's probably Bucky, and Steve's determined to find him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mission: Find Bucky

The first time it happened Steve was trapped under the foot of a giant HYDRA robot -- the robot couldn't quite crush him, but he couldn't quite get enough leverage with his shield to topple it, either. Just as he was calculating a possible escape angle, 3 shots rang out in quick succession, and the robot creaked, then slowly collapsed. Steve thought it was Natasha, so he yelled out a quick thanks and went on to help Sam.

It was only later when he saw the size of the rounds neatly buried in the robot (one in the power console, two in the head to throw it backwards), that he knew it was Bucky. 

Steve shook his head. What a Bucky thing to do -- save his butt and then not take any of the credit. Steve thought back to the alleyways of Brooklyn, to the forests of Germany, to the bank of the Potomac.  
Bucky always showed up to help Steve out of a sticky situation. It's clear that Bucky didn't want to be found, but maybe.... Steve started taking on more dangerous missions and rejecting Nat and Sam's offers of help. And like clockwork, Bucky would show up, saving his butt like the old days.

Although "show up" was too strong of a word. Steve would hear the bullets and see the enemies fall. And sometimes, a flicker of shadow. But no matter how quickly he followed, or how long he yelled Bucky's name, no one would appear.

So Steve got increasingly reckless. In the next mission, he turned his back on 10 HYDRA goons to chase the whisper of a sniper bullet. Death be damned, he thought. He needed to find Bucky, so let the goons shoot. But by the time he leapt up the stairs and vaulted over the railing, all that was left were some spent shell casings and ten goons, shot dead behind him. 

He asked Fury for an even more challenging mission -- "Let me take down the whole HYDRA base," he said. Fury look at the file. "This is *at least* a two person job. Optimally three. Sure you don't want back-up?" "No, I've got it covered." Fury looked him in the eye as he handed the file to Steve. "Do you even know what he's thinking?" "I do," said Steve, thinking back to the cocky smile, the protective arm jab.

Turned out that he didn't. He showed up at the HYDRA base to find everyone dead. The entire complex taken out methodically, with deadly, chilling efficiency. In the control center Steve found techs fallen with their hands clasped in prayer, single bullet to the head. And near the exit, a thin trail of blood that ended halfway down the block by a fire escape. 

"Well," Steve said to the fire escape, "I know you want to protect me, but that was overkill."

The joke didn't help Steve with the chill of what Bucky had done for him. Steve stopped taking missions -- asked Fury for a two-week vacation while trying not to look at Fury's "I told you so" face. He thought he knew Bucky. He thought those mission assists were Bucky showing he cares, Bucky returning to his old self. What else could it be? His mind suddenly opened to all the other possibilities -- HYDRA still controlling Bucky. Bucky selling out for some other group. Bucky not being Bucky. Bucky being tortured. The thoughts spiraled in his head, getting darker with each iteration. He knew he had to find Bucky, but you can't find a ghost that doesn't want to be found.

He couldn't sleep. He forgot to eat. All he could think about was finding Bucky.

On the tenth day, after another fruitless afternoon of questioning goons (and realizing how bad he is at it), he came home to find Bucky standing in the living room.

He looked somewhat the worse for wear, dressed in plain black, some odd dents on his left arm and some new scars on his right. But the look of recognition on his face when he saw Steve, the look of concern masquerading as disregard, was pure Bucky. "Steve, you've been running yourself ragged looking for this Bucky person. You need to rest -- I haven't been able to find him either, but I'll keep looking."

**Author's Note:**

> Picture is by me and colored by karaii on tumblr.
> 
> I’m really taken by the idea that “protecting Steve” is such a core part of Bucky’s identity that as Winter Soldier that it’s the only part of him that was left, and the only part that comes back. His first act of true defiance was actively saving Steve (probably prompted by the feeling of “no I can’t let this man die” — which really echoes on the train part in Cap1, where Bucky sacrificed himself to save Steve). 
> 
> Maybe for Bucky/Winter Soldier, it doesn’t matter who he is, what matters is Steve. His new mission is to keep this one man safe. [Related comic](http://potofsoup.tumblr.com/post/85483593952/the-only-thing-he-knows-is-that-he-must-keep-this)


End file.
